Whaem Quick Start Guide
Whaem Quick Start Guide
This guide is limited to some basic program functions, just to get you started. More
detailed guidance is found in the WhAEM integrated and context sensitive Help
system and numerous pdf documents focusing on specific WhAEM features and
functionalities.
Installing WhAEM
If already successfully installed proceed to the next section: Trying out WhAEM.
Go to https://www.epa.gov/ceam/wellhead-analytic-element-model-whaem
and under the Download Files area click on WhAEM 332 Install. Save and run the
file whaem_332_setup.exe, and follow the instructions. Note: You must have full
administrative privileges to successfully install this program. Contact your IT
department if in doubt.
Note: Some networked machines store the “Documents” folder (default installation
target for the “WhAEM projects” folder) on a network drive with limited access.
This could interfere with proper program operation. In that case you may simply
move the WhAEM Projects folder to an area on your machine where you do have full
access privileges, such as the Desktop folder. After starting WhAEM you would have
to navigate to that new folder location.
Click on the Windows Start Icon in the lower left dock, and select WhAEM to start
the program. The status bar on top of the WhAEM window displays the version
number.
Open example.whm
Click on the open project icon (yellow folder) below the WhAEM menus and in the
Open Project Database dialog navigate to the folder WhAEM Projects (default is in the
Documents folder) and then the Vincennes folder, and click on example.whm and
click on Open, see below.
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Several things happened upon loading the project file example.whm. First of all a
base map appears with on top of it a layout of line-sink strings (green, blue, and
dark red lines) representing streams and their tributaries. “Test Points” (red circles
with + sign inside) are representing observation wells in which the head is known.
Also visible is a boundary between the highly permeable outwash of Wabash river
(thick blue stream through the center of the image) and the surrounding low
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permeable uplands as an yellow line. All WhAEM menus below the top status bar
have now become active and finally, a series of “smart icons” appears below these
menus that offer shortcuts to various frequently used menu items.
If you move your mouse over the base map you may notice that the world
coordinates of the mouse position are updated on the lower right bottom of the
screen (make sure the WhAEM window has the focus – click on it if the coordinates
don’t update). The base map in this example project is a set of “BBM” files (Binary
Base Map) that are derived from USGS DLG files. The world coordinates for these
maps are in UTM, which has its origin at the equator and measures distances in
meters.
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Click on the smart icon to the right of the calculator icon (in the image below just
above the upper left corner of the Model Settings dialog).
Aquifer tab
Contouring tab
After clicking on the Contouring tab
we see that Compute Contours is
checked and that Heads is checked.
Under Contour Levels we see that the
minimum contour displayed won’t be
less than 380 feet and the maximum
contour displayed won’t be more
than 500 feet. Contours will be
plotted with an interval of 2 feet.
Under Grid Resolution we find that
Course is checked, which means that
40 grid points will be distributed
horizontally in the window (Detailed
would mean 80 grid points). The
vertical grid spacing is the same so
that the vertical number of points
will depend on the window’s aspect 4
ratio.
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Tracing tab
Solver tab
We will check one more thing before proceeding to solve this groundwater flow
problem. While the focus is still on the Solver tab press the function key F1. A
context sensitive Help screen comes up, see image below, which provides access to
all five Model Settings tabs. By clicking on any of the links under the word Settings
to the right of the menu panel a detailed explanation of the options on the tab will be
displayed.
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Now let’s try to create a groundwater flow solution. Click on the calculator icon to
the left of the Model Settings icon we used earlier. The GUI will launch the DOS
program GFLOW1.EXE, which is the Solver. A DOS box will open and various
messages will scroll inside that box, see image below.
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These messages are stored in the file Message.log and will be displayed in Notepad at
the end of the Solver run after the DOS box closes and disappears.
We see that the errors at internal model boundaries (boundary conditions) are all
well below a percent, often near machine accuracy.
After we click away the Message.log file we can look at the graphical results
generated by the Solver, see image below.
We see potentiometric contours (blue dotted lines), path lines (red), and we also see
that the Test Points have been replaced by small triangles that are pointing upward
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or downward. Below I show the data box that appears after double clicking the test
point (highlighted in red) just above the left upper corner of the Test Point
Properties dialog. We see that the Test Point is a Piezometer with an observed head
of 403 feet. The calculated head is 402.04 feet, see the status bar at the bottom of the
WhAEM window and image below.
In the image below we have zoomed in on the well near Wabash River for which
path lines have been traced backward in time. After double clicking on the well and
selecting the tab Other we see that 40 particles have been released evenly
distributed around the well and traced backward in time. The particles have been
released at elevation 332 feet, which is 2 feet above the aquifer bottom. Since we
had selected a maximum travel time of 10 years (on the Model Settings Tracing tab),
the traces define a 10-year TOT capture zone for the well. Note that this capture
zone extends across the Wabash River.
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There is a lot more to be explored, however. You may click on individual line-sinks
along streams and explore their settings. You may click on the yellow polyline, seen
a few images earlier, that defines the transition from the permeable outwash aquifer
to the much less permeable uplands. The yellow polyline is part of a polygon that is
in WhAEM parlance an “inhomogeneity.” Inhomogeneities are used to redefine the
hydraulic conductivity, aquifer base elevation, and porosity. They are also used to
add areal recharge due to precipitation. There are numerous other features and
tools to improve model realism and help you to create and inspect that model. These
include horizontal flow barriers. Tools include various import and export functions,
graphical overlays.
Before you set out to create your own model in your own area of interest it is
suggested you consult two more documents that are accessible from the Help menu
and that offer support with setting up your first model, see image below.
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Click on Help and then click on Online Guide for a discussion of the various steps
needed to create a model. You may also open the Online Tutorial from the Help
menu, which actually leads you step by step through an example project based on
the example.whm project we just explored in this WhAEM Quick Start Guide.
The EPA Report “Working with WhAEM’ which goes into further detail on the
hypothetical wellfield case study is available for download from the project
webpage https://www.epa.gov/ceam/wellhead-analytic-element-model-whaem
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